Chapter 17 – Rule 10. The Leader Must Not Suffer from Influenza

 

 

 

The ominous signs appeared immediately upon waking. As soon as I got out of bed, my head felt like it was going to explode. My diaphragm tightened, and I felt nauseous. After urgently dealing with my bladder, I returned to bed like a soldier retreating to a safe zone. The ceiling filled my line of sight for a longer time than usual.

 

I spent the time blankly, swallowing nasal mucus. Hunger and thirst gnawed at me, but I couldn’t move an inch from the bed. My throat was swollen. Swallowing the lukewarm saliva that constantly lingered in my mouth had become painful.

 

I managed to use the thermometer I had brought with me. 39.4°C. It had been a while since I had the flu.

 

Recently, my stock of medicine had run out. Neglecting to replenish it left me with a lingering regret.

 

At least it was the weekend. I couldn’t let the members see their leader unable to take care of himself. Even if I had somehow made it to school in this state, it would have only damaged my image. In the first place, attending school would have been difficult.

 

I didn’t expect the members to understand. Perception and understanding are separate issues. I couldn’t let them imprint a weak image of me in their minds.

 

I had to be an unyielding iron man. I had to reign as the perfect Disciplinary Committee Leader.

 

Only then would I not be overshadowed by the genius Oh Baek-seo.

 

‘I hope… I’ll be okay by tomorrow.’

 

I had to get better before the next day.

 

“Cough! Cough!”

 

Even putting a cold wet towel on my head would have been a relief, but in this condition, soaking the towel in water was a high-level task.

 

Bzzz.

 

The smartphone on the desk vibrated. A single vibration. A text message.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to reply.

 

Bzzzz.

 

The vibration lengthened. This time, it was a call. ‘I can’t take it.’ I decided to call back once I felt better. I didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger now.

 

Click.

 

The vibration continued for a long time before it stopped. Silence returned.

 

“……”

 

Maybe it was because I had been buried in work since becoming the Disciplinary Committee Leader. Spending time endlessly in pain brought back various forgotten memories.

 

I was reincarnated as a nameless extra in a game. I was one of the many beings born through artificial insemination, with genes randomly selected by AI from a factory’s storage. The amniotic sac I was in was an incubator, and my mother was a nurturing robot.

 

When I reached the age to perceive objects, I completed the common educational process everyone underwent. During that time, the AI instilled the mission, ‘You must rejuvenate humanity,’ into our minds through rote learning. This mandate was established as the value pursued by Academy City. If it weren’t for my game knowledge, I might have regarded that mandate as the ultimate ideology.

 

Besides that, I learned how to live and was given a house to live in when I reached the age of an elementary school student. It was the beginning of independent living.

 

Children at that age received excessive protection from security robots roaming the streets. In Academy City, where the social system was still imperfect, young children often became targets of crime.

 

The security robots, usually performing the functions of cleaning robots, also had combat capabilities. They had a rather endearing appearance. I, too, was overprotected by them.

 

However, I couldn’t feel human warmth from these unfeeling robots. I wished for anyone to be a friend or at least a neighbor. Then I met a girl. One day, when white snow covered Academy City, her light pink hair fluttered in the winter wind.

 

The girl introduced herself as Kim Eun-ha. It was an alias. I later learned that she was Kim Dalbi, one of the Six Sinners. At that time, knowing nothing, I was just happy to have a human friend.

 

Whether Dalbi felt the same as I did or was just killing time, she treated me kindly. We quickly became close. She was the first person to be on my side since I was reincarnated in this world.

 

Just the fact that she was the first person on my side made Dalbi a special existence to me. Shielded by the excuse of being a child, I frequently expressed my affection, often saying I liked her and giving her flowers and handwritten letters. I wanted Dalbi to stay by my side.

 

Perhaps grateful for my sincerity, Dalbi often visited my house and took care of many things for me.

 

She made delicious dishes with hands covered in bandages, claiming to have learned from the internet, and brought new toys and cool robots, saying she had found them by chance on her way.

 

Dalbi loved being held. Whenever she got a chance, she would stretch her arms sideways, signaling for a hug.

 

While we hugged each other tightly like penguins in the winter wind, it was natural to envision a future together with that child. It was a dream that lasted only three years.

 

Dalbi left my side, leaving behind only the words that she loved my innocence.

 

I still don’t understand the true meaning behind those words.

 

On the cabinet beside my bed, a peony flower talisman was framed. Even a slight turn of my head brings that talisman into view.

 

Why did Dalbi, after leaving my side, leave a letter at my house years later? Why did she congratulate me on getting into Ahsung High School with a peony flower?

 

I still couldn’t understand that.

 

I thought I had let go of Dalbi, but when I reminisced alone, she still lingered in my mind.

 

Was it because she was the first person to be on my side, because she was someone I invested my emotions in, or because my body was so young at that time that even my mind naively clung to her?

 

The memories with Dalbi, which I thought had burnt out, quietly rekindled at some point, leaving an afterglow.

 

Drowsiness welled up amidst the pain. I quietly closed my eyes.

 

“……”

 

I must have been in a deep sleep.

 

As I opened my eyes slightly, I vaguely saw a woman with flowing pale pink hair.

 

I couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality. I felt incredibly dazed, so I closed my eyes again.

 

Something damp was placed on my forehead. It was cold. The faint smell of porridge filled my senses.

 

I felt someone holding my hand tightly and stroking my hair. Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t alone.

 

Soon, a gentle voice resonated in my ears.

 

“Sorry for coming over.”

 

For some reason, she left an apology. I opened my eyes slightly again.

 

The warmth that I had felt in my hand was gone. Her gaze lingered on the nightstand next to the bed for a while. When I closed my eyes again, I heard the sound of her footsteps gradually fade away.

 

Immediately after, I sank into a deeper sleep.

 

……

 

When I regained consciousness, I heard the sound of something being dipped in water nearby. Soon, a cool towel was placed on my forehead.

 

As I slowly opened my eyes, a familiar face came into view.

 

“You’re awake?”

 

A kind smile. It was Baek-seo.

 

“?”

 

Why was Baek-seo here? At that moment, an instinctive thought flashed through my mind: the folder of bush warblers on my computer’s hard drive. I was relieved, remembering that I had set a password on my computer just in case.

 

“Baek-seo…? How did you get here?”